1. Field of The Invention
The invention relates to card-like means for use with the computer, particularly to an I/O card which functions as an interface, wherein one end of each I/O card mates a connector of the computer, and the other end couples to a periphery, such as a modem, a printer or the a device in a multi-media system.
2. The Prior Art
I/O cards become more popular in the computer industry presently, and the general structure of the I/O card can be referred to U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,207,586, 5,242,310, 5,244,397, 5,330,360 and 5,333,100. Moreover, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,183,404, one problem is presented that because the I/O card is such thin that the I/O port, i.e., connector, of such I/O card can not directly coupled to the larger standard complementary connector of a periphery, such as a phone jack. In FIGS. 7 and 8 of such patent disclose two traditional methods to solve the aforementioned incompatibility problem of interconnection between the I/O connector of the I/O card and the complementary connector of the periphery. One is to use a cable assembly, of which one end has a tiny connector for mating the tiny I/O connector of the I/O card, and the other end has a standard connector for mating the standard connector of the periphery so that the I/O card and the corresponding periphery can be electrically connected through such cable assembly. The other method is to use a standard connector integral with such I/O card.
For a certain consideration, such patent teaches using retractable connection section means within the I/O card for being able to be exposed to an exterior so that the complementary connector, i.e., the modular jack, of a modem can be angularly mated with such exposed mating connection section of the I/O card.
Briefly, the aforementioned three different ways to connect the modem to the I/O card have their own advantages and disadvantages, respectively. For example, the first way, i.e., using an additional cable assembly as an adaptor, necessitates carrying an extra cable whenever use of the modem is desired. Additionally, although the second way, i.e. using an integral standard connector with the I/O card which extends to an exterior, can eliminates the need for carrying extraneous components and eliminates the incompatibility between the I/O card and the modem, such integrated rigid structure of such projecting connector portion of such I/O card may jeopardize the convenience of carrying such I/O card and increase the possibility of breakage of such exposed connection section. Moveover, the third way, i.e., using retractable connection means, may complicates the internal structure of the I/O card so that the cost may substantially increase.
Anyhow, in the recent trend, more than two I/O cards are designedly arranged in a stacked form for use with the computer wherein the distance between such two stacked I/O cards is really tiny due to the size of computer set being smaller. It is obvious that the second and the third ways can not satisfy such critical situation.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an I/O card which can not only mate with the corresponding periphery directly without any extraneous cable assembly, but also allow plural densely stacked I/O cards to connect to plural corresponding peripheries, respectively.